It was a news item from 2013 that inspired Émilie Frèche’s latest novel.
That year, an octogenarian couple – Georgette and Bernard Cazes – killed themselves in a room at the chic Lutetia hotel, in the 6e district of Paris. The professor of literature and the renowned economist left a letter in which they explained that they did not want to experience the physical decline that probably awaits them, and instead demanded the right to die with dignity. This is a subject that could not be more topical as France is considering medical assistance in dying.
From this story which had captured the imagination of the French at the time, Frèche imagined a couple of baby boomer advertisers who perfectly embody their time: careerists, egoists, megalomaniacs on the edges, they are the authors of great advertising campaigns that marked their era. Except that their life is told from the point of view of their daughter Éléonore, the narrator, who has a much less admiring view of the creative couple. Rather, she recounts the absence of her parents, her feeling of abandonment, this impression of always feeling too much in this couple that is both fused and dysfunctional.
All the ingredients come together to tell a very good story, but unfortunately we got a little bored reading this novel. The writing is flat, without relief, and the emotion passes more or less. Too bad because the starting point was really promising.
The lovers of Lutetia
Albin Michel
368 pages